


there goes my heart beating ('cause you are the reason)

by Continued_Calm



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Both Toni and Cheryl just need a hug, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, artist!cheryl, photographer!toni
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:20:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25500502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Continued_Calm/pseuds/Continued_Calm
Summary: Toni's world is turned upside down when she finds out her grandpa has cancer. It doesn't help that she's been forced into a group project with none other than the bombshell herself. But maybe she's just the person Toni needs.
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom & Toni Topaz, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Comments: 9
Kudos: 60





	1. Toni

**Chapter 1: Toni**

Toni sighs deeply as she glances over to the hospital bed she's sitting next to. In it lays her grandpa, the only biological family Toni has left in this world. He looks so small and fragile as he lays there, dozens of tubes attached to his body.

When she first got here Toni could barely look at him without bursting into tears. It had all happened so fast and countless surgeries later he’s still here fighting for his life. 

Toni had been away at school when they called her. It was late Friday night and through the haze of her drunkenness she had heard the doctor telling her that her grandpa had collapsed in the middle of a grocery store and was unresponsive. 

The next morning Toni had been on a bus back to Riverdale. 

“What do you mean he has cancer? I thought you said he fell.” Toni asked the doctors bewildered. 

The doctor looked at her sympathetically. “Ms. Topaz your grandpa was diagnosed with cancer almost a couple of months ago. He has been on treatment ever since. We thought he was responding well but this fall is certainly a setback. We did some tests and it looks like the cancer is back and as aggressive as ever. He will need to stay here for the foreseeable future while we monitor its progression.” 

Toni had been nauseous listening to the doctor. The news mixed with the alcohol still running through her bloodstream making her numb. _Months._ He never said anything. How could Toni not have noticed that her grandpa was this sick?

Toni feels that same guilt now for not noticing as she looks back at her grandpa laying in his hospital bed. Toni has barely been able to speak to him since his fall. The doctors prefer to keep him in this comatose state while they try to fight his cancer. It’s for the best because Toni doesn’t want him to be in pain, but it sucks nonetheless. 

The heart monitor beats monotonously in the background. She thinks back to the last year and how she had been so focused on school, she had barely visited him. She had just wanted to do well after transferring and to make him proud. 

“Toni stop it.” Sweet Pea says as he enters the hospital room.“I know that look. You need to stop blaming yourself,” he says softly as he sits in the chair closest to Toni. 

“If I had been here this wouldn’t have happened Sweets,” Toni says shaking her head. It was just a fact of the matter. 

“He still would have cancer,” Sweets says slowly. 

“Yeah but if I had been there he wouldn’t have had to deal with it by himself. He wouldn’t have fallen.” She says stubbornly. This is what she gets for thinking she would ever get out of Riverdale. She had been so close.

“Fair enough, but there is no need to keep beating yourself up about it. You’re here now and so am I,” He says giving her a small smile.

“Thanks, Sweets,” Toni says gratefully. He had come as soon as Toni called him arriving merely hours after she had arrived at the hospital. 

“You know I got you Tiny,” He says smiling down at her, and then his expression turns serious. “Any updates on what you’re going to do about school?”

Toni sighs deeply at that question. She had been avoiding thinking about school. Luckily this all went down right as winter break started. She had been in Riverdale ever since. 

“I really don’t know. I want to go back because I don’t want to lose my scholarship but I can’t imagine leaving him right now.” She says conflicted. 

“I know,” he says, understanding then hesitates before saying “But Toni, you know he would want you to go back. I mean isn’t that kind of the reason he didn’t tell you about all of this in the first place? So you could focus on school.”

Toni sighs again, closing her eyes briefly at the thought. She had also come to that conclusion shortly after arriving back in Riverdale. It makes her angry. _Stupid._ He should have told her. Now, look at whats happened. 

“Plus you’re only an hour’s drive away. You could visit as much as you want or if anything happens,” Sweet Pea continues. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She says reluctantly. 

“Ms. Topaz,” she hears as one of her grandpa’s doctors enters the room. “Do you have a minute to talk?”

“Yeah,” She says, standing to follow the doctor out of the room and into the hallway. For one horrible second, she thinks this is it. This is when they tell her there is nothing else they can do. She braces herself before asking “What’s up?”

“I have some good news and bad news.” He says straight up. “The good news is that your grandpa is responding well to treatments as of right now.” Toni visibly brightens at that statement. “But there is an issue with his insurance. They have decided that it isn’t worth continuing treatment based on his age and health. Meaning unless we receive payments from another source we’re going to have to let him go.” 

“Let him go?” Toni says as she feels her angry start to bubble up. “What the fuck does that even mean? Isn’t that illegal? You can’t just send him home. He’s barely conscious.”

“I know. It’s horrible but it's a policy. If he can’t afford the treatment then we can’t keep treating him,” he says it like he truly understands how fucked up this is. “There are some options though. We have a program at the hospital that helps with things like this. There are still out of pocket costs though.”

“How much?” Toni is scared to ask but she needs to know. 

“Based on the treatments he needs and with the help of the hospital assistance,” the doctor says as he shuffles through some papers he had been carrying. “It would cost you around $2,000-$3,000 per treatment.”

 _Shit_. Toni immediately grimaces at the number. She’s a fucking college student. Where is she going to get that type of cash? She turns to look back into her grandpa’s hospital room. She looks at Sweet Pea, at his serpent jacket. She hasn’t been active in the gang recently but that might need to change.

“Okay let’s do it,” Toni says without really thinking. She’ll get the money. 

“Okay great,” the doctor says like he’d been let off the hook. Clearly he was expecting some more anger but Toni didn’t have any more time to be angry. She knew the world was fucked up, that didn’t take away from the fact that she still had to save her grandpa.

“I’ll get everything set up. You should get the first bill in a month or so from now,” he says jotting down some notes before walking back into her grandpa’s room for his check-up. 

_A month_. Toni starts making plans. 

_____

“Is this everything?” Sweet Pea asks that Friday, as she places the last box into the back of his car. It was the Friday before spring semester classes started. Toni had waited until the last possible moment to leave Riverdale and her grandpa. The doctors had assured her that they would look after him and call if anything happened. 

“Yeah this is it,” She says looking back at her grandpa’s trailer. The place she used to call home. Now it will be someone else’s home.

“Okay, so you ready to go?” He asks as he rounds the front of the car heading for the driver’s side. 

Toni takes one last look at the trailer and sighs. It had to be done. She needs the money and she got just enough to cover the next couple of treatments. She understands that her grandpa now has no place to live but she figured at least he would be alive. They could figure everything else out later. 

“Yeah, let’s go,” She says as she gets into the passenger seat and soon enough they are on their way back to campus. 

Since classes don’t start until Monday Toni planned to use the weekend as free time to figure out her schooling which was something she hasn’t thought of since she left for the winter break. They pull up to their shared apartment to see Fangs, their other roommate, waiting outside to greet them. 

“Hey Tiny,” he says and wraps her up in a big tight hug. She hugs him back just as tightly. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Yeah me too,” She says and she means it. She’s missed her friends. Although Sweet Pea nor Fangs go to school like Toni, instead they chose to work right out of high school, they both moved with her to her school to support her studies. Plus they also couldn’t wait to get out of Riverdale. 

They help Toni get everything from Sweet Pea’s car and into their apartment. While she’s unpacking Fangs comes into her room carrying a stack of mail.

“This all came while you were away,” He says and smiles at her. 

“Thanks,” She says as she takes the stack of mail. Most of it looks like advertising. 

“Also a girl came here looking for you a couple of days ago,” He says snapping his figures to recall the memory. “She had red hair,” Toni’s eyes snap back to Fang’s immediately realizing who he’s talking about. “She was pretty rude asking about where you’ve been and how you both had plans.” 

Toni drags her hands down her face sitting on the edge of her bed as she remembers said plans. _Shit_. Cheryl. 

The redhead is in Toni's yearlong mixed media workshop class. A required class that has to be taken by all the students within the art department. 

They weren’t exactly friends because they hated each other but right before the break they had been paired together to work on a project for class. It was the professor's way of showing the importance of collaboration Toni thinks with an eye roll as she remembers the last day of classes when she got the news.

“Okay class now as you all know when we come back next year you will be working in pairs on a collaborative project,” Professor Haggly starts as students around the room groan in displeasure. Toni is the loudest one. She hated group projects.

“This project could be whatever you want it to be. You have free rein. All I ask is that both you and your partner come up with something that represents both of you as artists.” 

Another round of groans goes around the room. “I appreciate the excitement!” She says sarcastically then goes down the list of partners. Toni mostly tunes her out, still a little annoyed that they even have to do this.

Her thoughts are brought back to the classroom when she hears a loud gasp followed by “What?! Excuse me Professor Haggly I believe you are mistaken. I thought we agreed that my partner would be Josie,” Cheryl says, looking both surprised and annoyed. Toni tries and fails to hide her laughter. Seems like the bombshell doesn't get her way this time.

Cheryl glares at her and Toni just smirks back at her literally beaming in her displeasure with the situation. “Ms. Blossom I agreed to no such thing. These partnerships were made randomly without any input.” 

“That’s not fair. How am I to ensure a satisfactory grade working with someone I don’t know?” Cheryl says as her eyes that had been lingering on Toni’s face look back to the professor at the front of the room. She sits up straighter in her seat ready to argue her case. Her eyes light up at the challenge and Toni just rolls her eyes.

She’s wearing a skirt today that almost matches the color of her hair with a white top and some no doubt ridiculously expensive heels. Toni has to admit she looks really good. Not a single hair out of place. 

“Ms. Blossom of course you know Toni. You’ve been in the same class together all semester. You’ve seen her work and know she’s very talented. Now I’ve made my decisions and that's the end of it.” Professor Haggly says with a sense of finality that even Cheryl can’t challenge. Toni's eyes snap up to the professor and _oh no_ Cheryl has been partnered with _her_. 

It is then that Toni finally speaks "Professor Haggly I think Cheryl actually has a point. We barely know each other."

"Not you too. My decision is final." The professor says and then promptly moves on to the next pair on the list.

Toni looks back at Cheryl and she’s pouting. Actually pouting with her bottom lip stuck out and everything. She's also looking over at Josie Mccoy with a sense of longing in her eyes. Toni almost laughs again at her so obvious face but doesn't because she like Cheryl is now also surprised and annoyed. This is going to be a disaster. Cheryl and she do not get along. 

When the rest of the partners have been announced the professor lets them go early. It was the last day of classes so there wasn’t much else to discuss. Toni is putting all of her stuff in her bag when she sees those ridiculously expensive heels walking towards her. 

“I hope you’re happy,” she says bitterly as she stands right in front of Toni with her arms crossed. 

“Thrilled,” Toni says with a bored tone as she stands to look up at Cheryl, because yeah they don’t call her tiny for nothing. “I wanted nothing more in this world than to be stuck doing this stupid project with you.”

“You’re lucky to even be in my presence. Let alone getting to work with me. You obviously got the better part of this arrangement,” Cheryl says looking annoyed again. 

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. So let’s just try to make the best of it.” Toni says trying to defuse Cheryl from throwing what looks to be a full-blown temper tantrum. 

“Easy for you to say,” she says, taking a deep, calming breath. She doesn’t look at Toni when she says “But fine if we must. Did you want to meet up over the break to talk through potential ideas?”

Toni’s surprised she gave in that easily. Her eyebrows raise slightly trying to find the catch in Cheryl’s words. 

“Topaz I’d rather not stand here all day talking with you. Unlike you I have other more _important_ things to do,” Cheryl says when she takes longer than a second to respond. 

“Yeah okay. I’m going home for Christmas but I should be back the week before classes start,” Toni says and because she can’t help herself. “Is that to your liking, your majesty?”

Cheryl smirks back at her clearly liking the last part of her response. “I think we can make that work. Now how am I to get into contact with you?”

“Are you asking for my number?” Toni says smirking back at Cheryl. 

“You wish,” Cheryl says, rolling her eyes. 

“Well in that case I’ll see you next year Blossom,” Toni says as she promptly turns away leaving an even more annoyed Cheryl alone in the empty classroom. 

It was later that night that everything went to shit. 

Toni looks back at Fangs. “Thanks for telling me. I’ll figure that out later.” 

“Okay, cool. Let me know if you need anything else,” He says as he exits her room. 

Toni falls back onto her bed feeling overwhelmed with everything going on. She just wants her grandpa to be okay. 

_____

Later that night Sweet Pea and Fangs decide that Toni needs to get out of the house. They tell her about a party happening on campus and have decided that they’re all going. 

Toni doesn’t want to go but the alternative is worrying all night about something she has no control over. The doctors are monitoring her grandpa 24/7. He is in the safest place possible if anything happens. 

So when Sweet Pea breaks out a bottle of tequila she grimaces but figures _fuck it._

They end up rolling up to the party super late. It’s in full swing by the time they get there. Apparently a lot of the students had returned earlier that week, many just to attend this party. 

Toni doesn’t know whose party it is but whoever they are they must be _loaded_ because the house is huge. Toni can't even appreciate it fully because of groups of people crowding every corner of the many rooms. 

The three of them make their way through the crowds to the kitchen where a variety of alcohol bottles and various mixers are spread around the countertops. Toni’s in the middle of being forced to take another shot by Fangs when he immediately stops eyes wide staring behind Toni.

Toni feels like she already knows who it is, there are a lot of red accents throughout the house. Plus nobody else could literally capture the attention of everybody in the room quite like the bombshell herself. She turns around slowly to find her staring absolute daggers back at her. _Shit_. 

“Nice of you to join _my_ party Topaz.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if there are any errors, please ignore them as they were not made on purpose lol. I will update everything (tags, summary, etc.) as/if this story continues. Please leave any comments, questions, suggestions, praise below or you can find me at https://continued-calm.tumblr.com/. 
> 
> I was thinking of alternating perspectives between Cheryl and Toni?? Let me know if you guys would like that.


	2. Cheryl

**Chapter 2: Cheryl**

“Ugh I can’t believe I have to work with her,” Cheryl says bitterly as she balls up the drawing she was working on. It was just a sketch, barely even anything but an outline. A Cheryl didn’t even realize she was drawing said girl until she thought the amorphous figure needed pink hair.

“Work with who?” Veronica, her roommate, says from across the room.

“Topaz,” Cheryl says like a cursed word. It was the weekend before classes started and she hadn’t seen or heard from the girl in weeks.

“Toni? I thought you two were playing nice these days” Veronica says as she makes her way to the table Cheryl is sitting at.

“I’m always nice. Topaz on the other hand continuously shows that she was raised by wolves.”

“I think she’s nice.” 

“Yeah, well I guess she doesn’t feel the need to irk your every nerve like she does mine. Who even let her into this school.”

Veronica rolls her eyes having heard this complaint one too many times. “You know she’s a great photographer Cheryl. She worked really hard to get into this program.”

“Well since you are so in love with her do you know where she’s been? I haven’t seen her since the last day of classes,” Cheryl says very casually but in reality, she had been looking for the pink-haired girl for a couple of days now.

Not that Cheryl was worried about her but it was weird not seeing the girl anywhere. Honestly, this is why she had wanted her phone number. She knew she couldn’t trust Toni with following through on doing her parts of this stupid project. Now look, she’s essentially been ghosted and no one ghosts Cheryl Blossom.

“Hmm, that’s weird. Has she not been at the bar?” 

The Whyte Wyrm was one of the more popular bars that surrounded the school’s campus. Toni and her roommates also happened to work there. 

“No, I even went to her apartment. Her roommate said she was away dealing with some personal things. He didn’t even tell me when she would be back,” Cheryl huffs in annoyance. Who names their child Fangs anyway?

“Wait, how do you know where she lives?” Veronica asks, raising her eyebrows at this new information.

Cheryl’s face falls realizing her error. She panics internally for a minute before cooly answering “Don’t you know by now that I know everything, Veronica.” 

Veronica's eyes narrow at her. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Cheryl?” 

“No, of course not, but I don’t want to waste my day discussing Topaz. We have a lot to do before the party tonight.” Cheryl says quickly changing the topic of conversation. “Is Archie coming?”

“I think so, but honestly I could care less,” Veronica says with a scowl. 

Cheryl smirks at Veronica’s reaction. “Well, I think it's time we show him and the rest of the school what it's been missing.” 

\-------

Cheryl could hear the party downstairs. It was already packed with people and the music was blasting throughout every corner of the house. She was still putting on the last touches of her makeup, looking over at the clock she realized it was almost midnight. Perfect time to make her entrance. 

As she made her way downstairs she could already feel eyes on her and she loved it. It’s good to know that she’s still in control of at least this part of her life. But Cheryl’s not interested in any of these people, and if she’s being honest all of this is rather boring. So after a few more minutes of letting people gawk at her, she goes to look for Veronica and her friends.

As she walks through the kitchen she hears a “Chill Fangs,” and  _ no fucking way _ . Cheryl thinks she’s dreaming for a minute because she knows  _ that _ voice. 

Cheryl goes through a range of emotions when she confirms that Toni Topaz, the girl she has been searching for, is seemingly right here in her kitchen taking shots of her alcohol, at her party. She eventually settles on anger and burns her gaze into the back of Toni’s head. 

\------

“What the hell Blossom?” Toni yells as Cheryl grabs her by the sleeve of her ever-present serpent jacket, pulling her away from her friends and the many curious eyes that continue to stare as she leaves the kitchen with Toni in tow.

Cheryl is surprised that Toni doesn’t put up much of a fight as they make their way further from where the party is happening. She takes a turn into her art studio, positioned at almost the other end of the house. She drops Toni’s arm after closing the door and turns to face her. “Where the hell have you been Topaz?” 

“I had something to deal with back home. It took a little longer than expected.” Toni explains vaguely, crossing her arms over her chest clearly on the defensive.

Cheryl narrowed her eyes at her, waiting but Toni didn’t elaborate further. “You’ve also been ignoring my emails,” Cheryl gets angrier at Toni for seemingly not caring that Cheryl had been looking for her. “And did your roommate not pass along the fact that I literally came to your shitty little apartment?”

“Yeah, he just told me this morning when I got back. As for your emails, I haven’t been checking them over the break. I just told you I had other things to deal with. And I’m sorry not all of us live in fucking mansions,” Toni says matching Cheryl’s anger.

“Oh please Topaz this is hardly a mansion,” Cheryl says, mildly offended at the thought. “This doesn’t even have a foyer.” 

Toni stares back at her in disbelief clenching her jaw holding back whatever remark she was going to say. 

“What could be more important than your schoolwork Topaz?” Cheryl wonders truly not understanding how Toni could not have checked her emails once over the break. “I am pretty sure the terms of your scholarship requires you to be in good standing.” 

“How do you know I’m on scholarship?” 

Cheryl falters, eyes widening, realizing for the second time today she has been caught red-handed. Cheryl would rather die than admit that she had basically been stalking Toni on social media in her absence. Her search had come up empty about Toni’s whereabouts but she had found out other more personal information about the girl. Stuff that Toni had never shared with her during their short conversations.

“Everybody knows you're a scholarship kid. How else would you afford to go to this school?”

When Toni only narrows her eyes at her she continues “And since you haven’t been checking your emails. I guess you wouldn’t know that Professor Haggly sent out an email with our first project assignment. It’s due Monday.” 

“Shit,” Toni dragged her hands down her face looking distressed. “Look, Cheryl, I am way too drunk for this right now. I’m just trying to have a good night.” 

It was then that Cheryl really looked at Toni, sweeping her eyes over her entire body. Toni didn’t look to be physically harmed, maybe a little tired. She actually looked really good. Cheryl immediately fought a blush as she realized that Toni was also eyeing her right back. 

“Yeah, well so was I until I saw the girl who seemingly dropped off the face of the earth showed up at my party.”

“I didn’t know this was your party and now that I do I’m leaving.” Toni turns to leave the way they had come in. 

“Hey, you can’t just leave, we have unfinished business.” Cheryl steps in front of Toni effectively blocking her exit.

“Well, we aren’t going to do the assignment right now. So I’m going to finish enjoying the night with my friends.” 

“Wait,” Cheryl quickly grabs Toni’s wrist as she tries to leave again. “I’m not talking about the assignment.”

Toni briefly looks down at where Cheryl’s hand is wrapped tightly around her wrist and then slowly lifts her gaze back to Cheryl’s. Cheryl’s heart thuds erratically when she knows that Toni understands.

They just stare at each other. Then, after what feels like forever, Cheryl finally gathers up the courage to do what she wanted when she decided to drag Toni into this room.

The hand on Toni’s wrist slowly makes its way to shoulder, then her neck, and then finally landing on the cheek. 

Toni doesn’t say anything. She just stares back at Cheryl. It reminds Cheryl of  _ that night _ when this whole thing started. 

Cheryl shifts to close the distance between them, and then they are pressed together. Cheryl’s eyes close and then there is nothing but feeling. She blames the alcohol in her system for just how good this feels. The taste of Toni as she exhales against her lips and presses deeper, mouth moving with more force against her own. 

Toni tastes like lemon, salt, and vodka. It drives Cheryl crazy. She loses control, bringing both of her hands to dig into Toni’s hair, pushing her against the wall. 

It gets too hot, too heavy very quickly. Toni gasps with the need to breathe and Cheryl not nearly satisfied moves her mouth to trail burning kisses across her jaw, her cheek until she’s buried in her neck quickly finding her pulse point. 

“Fuck,” is whispered between them followed by a groan. 

Cheryl is about ready to rip Toni’s leather jacket off when they both hear a loud banging on the door jolting them both away from each other.

“Toni are you in there?” A deep voice yells followed by “Shit Fangs how could you lose her?!?” 

Cheryl rolls her eyes realizing who it is and then stares back at Toni who is still panting heavily against the wall from their previous activities. 

She stares at Cheryl briefly like she wants to continue kissing. Cheryl’s heartbeat still thuds with excitement. 

“I have to go.” Toni pushes against Cheryl to move from between her and the wall. 

Cheryl stops Toni from leaving again with a hand on her wrist as she passes.

“At least give me your number. Can’t have you disappearing again.” Cheryl is proud that her voice doesn’t shake as she makes the request.

“Fine, but only if you use it for business inquiries only.” Toni teases as she plugs her number into her phone. Then she disappears out the door to find her friends. 

Cheryl takes a deep breath trying to calm her racing heart. 

\-------

For the rest of the night, Cheryl’s eyes follow Toni who for whatever reason decides to stick around. Cheryl’s still a little upset that their rendezvous had been cut short but the fact that she can actually see Toni again made up for it. She wonders where Toni had been and makes a note to ask her about it later. 

“Hey, where were you?” Veronica asks, walking up to Cheryl blocking her view. “You missed the body shots.”

“Ew, gross Veronica. Please tell me you did not take a shot off of some sweaty freshman.”

“Haha, as if. I did however take one off of that cute blonde from my class,” She says pointing her out amongst the large crowd.

“Betty Cooper? Really Veronica could you find anyone lamer.” 

“Hey, what happened to miss I'm always nice?” 

“Whatever, I’m not in the mood to deal with these drunk idiots.” 

“Aw, come on Cheryl. You mean to tell me you aren’t interested in anyone here?” Veronica surveys the crowd. “When was the last time you got laid anyway?”   
  


“Shhhh, Veronica, that is something we don’t need to discuss here and now,” Cheryl says, actively trying not to look in the direction of pink hair. 

“Or maybe you already have your eyes on someone.” Veronica looks straight at Cheryl and again she feels like she's been caught. Except for this time she didn't even say anything. Veronica has always been more perceptive than Cheryl gives her credit for.

“You know what I think I will take that body shot,” Cheryl says as she grabs Veronica and leads her to the nearest table which just happens to be in the middle of the large living room. 

She grabs the closest boy nearest her. “You lay down.” 

He quickly lays down on the table looking like he just won the lottery.

Cheryl takes the bottle of alcohol that Veronica had been holding and pours an ample amount before shoving the lime into his mouth. 

She takes the shot and then as she goes for the lime she makes the mistake of looking up directly into the eyes of none other than Toni Topaz.

  
_ Shit _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again sorry for any mistakes. Let me know your thoughts! The next chapter will for sure be from Toni's perspective.


End file.
